Disney delays moving Southern California jobs to Florida, blaming construction holdup

Walt Disney Co. has delayed the relocation of some staff to Florida to coincide with the anticipated completion of the corporate’s new campus within the Orlando group of Lake Nona, a spokesperson stated Wednesday.

The corporate in July 2021 stated it deliberate to maneuver some 2,000 staffers, together with many theme park designers and shopper merchandise staff, to central Florida to benefit from some $570 million in tax breaks. The transfer was anticipated to take 18 months, the corporate stated on the time.

Nonetheless, the brand new places of work have taken longer to complete than anticipated, and Disney anticipates a gap date of 2026, representing a roughly three-year delay.

Disney spokeswoman Jacquee Wahler advised The Instances in an e-mail that, whereas many staff have already made the transfer, the corporate needed to “proceed to supply flexibility to these relocating, particularly given the anticipated completion date of the campus is now in 2026.”

“Due to this fact, the place potential, we’re aligning the relocation interval with the campus completion,” Wahler stated.

The delay comes amid an ongoing feud between Disney and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over the state’s controversial Parental Rights in Training regulation, which opponents have referred to as anti-LGBTQ laws. The regulation bans instruction on sexual orientation and gender id in kindergarten via third grade. Homosexual and trans advocates deride it as a “don’t say homosexual” invoice.

Disney denounced the regulation after its Chief Govt Bob Chapek confronted mounting stress from staff to talk out. DeSantis blasted the corporate as a “woke” company, and the state Legislature voted to strip Disney of its uncommon self-governing privileges within the district that features Walt Disney World.

DeSantis is extensively thought of to be a potential presidential candidate in 2024.

When requested whether or not the relocation holdup was associated to the DeSantis dispute, the Disney spokesperson stated it was not.

However Disney’s rationalization didn’t dissuade many observers of the corporate from believing that the transfer was tied to politics. Jim Shull, a former Disney Imagineer, tweeted that the delay seemed to be an instance of Disney “sticking it to” DeSantis and a “results of Californians stating they received’t transfer to Florida.”

WDW Information Immediately, which covers Disney theme parks, was first to report the delay.

As plans had been being put in place for the transfer, Disney staff had been supplied shifting help to relocate. Those that selected to not transfer risked dropping their jobs.

Some, together with theme park designers often known as Imagineers who work in Glendale, weren’t proud of the prospect of shifting, and the controversy in Florida made the relocation even much less enticing, in line with individuals accustomed to the matter.

A bunch of staff who staged a walkout in protest of Chapek’s dealing with of the “don’t say homosexual” controversy demanded, in an open letter, that “no worker will probably be terminated when denying relocation” to Florida.

On the identical time, the delay is certain to create but extra complications for some staff, who’ve been planning to maneuver and have been promoting their California properties.

The transfer is supposed not solely to profit from Florida’s business-friendly tax incentives but additionally to consolidate Disney’s operations within the state and enhance collaboration.

Instances employees author Hugo Martin contributed to this report.